House fire. Need advice on what to do with firearms.

View · by **s10trev** on Mon Mar 14, 2016 8:39 am

I had a major house fire last Friday. On Saturday I had a meth head trying to break in the boarded up structure. I was able to get my guns and other valuables out on Sunday. The firearms are obviously wet and have a good layer of smoke and whatever on them. My neighbor helped me spray them down with oil and we have them sitting open at his house. Any advice on what else I should do with? Has anyone else experienced this? I just have the standard insurance on them.

I also have to take a renewal class for my carry permit very soon. Does anyone offer a reasonably price class in the next few weeks? I need every penny right now.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

View · by **photogpat** on Mon Mar 14, 2016 8:46 am

You should be in touch with your insurance agent about how they'll handle your claim. Ask specifically about coverage on your firearms, and if you can initiate cleaning and preservation steps without endangering your potential claims.

View · by **striped1** on Mon Mar 14, 2016 8:52 am

call a professional fire restoration company like Giertsen. They deal with this on a daily basis and are exceptional. If you have insurance, it will cover you firearms subject to your contents limit. There are no sublimits for firearms for the cause of loss of fire.

OIling is a good start, but the internals need to be cleaned or you will get pitting etc, from the caustic nature of the smoke.

View · by **striped1** on Mon Mar 14, 2016 8:54 am

You have a duty to mitigate your damages. You can begin steps to protect your property based on that, but your first call should have been your carrier, the second to a restoration company. Don't wait for the adjuster to get there. If the scene has been released, you can get the stuff that can be saved out and clean, safe, stable.

View · by **gun_fan111v2** on Mon Mar 14, 2016 9:41 am

Sorry to hear about your ordeal. If you are in the south metro I know an instructor with very reasonable fees. If I could only use my PMs you would already have his info...

Perhaps a Mod can contact me to pass on the information?

View · by **wasfuzz** on Mon Mar 14, 2016 10:33 am

s10trev wrote:I had a major house fire last Friday. On Saturday I had a meth head trying to break in the boarded up structure. I was able to get my guns and other valuables out on Sunday. The firearms are obviously wet and have a good layer of smoke and whatever on them. My neighbor helped me spray them down with oil and we have them sitting open at his house. Any advice on what else I should do with? Has anyone else experienced this? I just have the standard insurance on them.

I also have to take a renewal class for my carry permit very soon. Does anyone offer a reasonably price class in the next few weeks? I need every penny right now.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

If it helps any, I have a class near Mankato (south 12 Miles) this Sat. and I would wave the fees for you to attend. I know it is a was to go for a class, just offering!
Donn

View · by **mmcnx2** on Mon Mar 14, 2016 11:18 am

You really should get the guns disassembled and cleaned and checked for heat/smoke damage.

If you need a place to clean or help dorp me a PM. I'm in the northwest metro and would be glad to offer you a bench and cleaning supplies.

View · by **s10trev** on Mon Mar 14, 2016 9:40 pm

Thank you for the advice and the offers of help. Basically my adjuster said that most people prefer to handle the firearm issue on their own and submit estimates from a gunsmith. He said that they would pay for cleaning or whatever but replacement would only be up to my insurance limit.

Giertsen came out and did the board up they seemed pretty decent. However I have another disaster cleanup contractor I've worked with before so I may go with them.

And Don, thank you for the offer on the class this weekend. Unfortunately that doesn't work with what's going on right now.

And yes my first call was to the insurance and then the contractor. The contractor was able to come out and take a look the next day. Today I finally spoke with the adjuster and he is flying in from Arizona tomorrow and the investigator will do his tomorrow as well.

I've been going all day on about 4 hours of sleep so hopefully most of my post makes sense.

View · by **yuppiejr** on Tue Mar 15, 2016 9:48 am

Were the guns themselves exposed to significant heat? I'd be more worried about the effect of ruining the heat treatment of any steel components in the guns than I would damage from smoke and water which requires the same simple cleanup that you would perform after shooting corrosive ammunition. Steel parts are typically heat treated to a specific rockwell hardness by the manufacturers, and if they got super hot and were then doused in water, may have been hardened (and thus become more brittle..)... or if heated and left to cool slowly, tempered and softened. Either is a potentially bad thing and will not be easily verified without the right tools and knowledge of the correct hardness values specified by the manufacturer for each firearm & subcomponent.

Sorry to hear about the loss, hope everything gets sorted out for you quickly!

View · by **Jack's My dog** on Wed Mar 16, 2016 1:32 pm

I am sorry to hear this happened to you. I think it is good you are talking to a couple restoration companies. I know this is a stressful time, but go ahead and do some vetting on who you go with to do the work. You should have a bit of time before the investigator releases the scene and work can begin.

View · by JJ on Wed Mar 16, 2016 1:54 pm

yuppiejr wrote:Were the guns themselves exposed to significant heat? I'd be more worried about the effect of ruining the heat treatment of any steel components in the guns than I would damage from smoke and water which requires the same simple cleanup that you would perform after shooting corrosive ammunition. Steel parts are typically heat treated to a specific rockwell hardness by the manufacturers, and if they got super hot and were then doused in water, may have been hardened (and thus become more brittle..)... or if heated and left to cool slowly, tempered and softened. Either is a potentially bad thing and will not be easily verified without the right tools and knowledge of the correct hardness values specified by the manufacturer for each firearm & subcomponent.

Sorry to hear about the loss, hope everything gets sorted out for you quickly!

Unless the stocks are burned/melted, they never reached a temperature threshold high enough to cause a heat treat issue..

View · by **yuppiejr** on Wed Mar 16, 2016 9:37 pm

JJ wrote:Unless the stocks are burned/melted, they never reached a temperature threshold high enough to cause a heat treat issue..

.. good point, I think the presence of a brooder full of baby chicks sitting in my office is making me more 'the sky is falling' than normal.